Ohio University | Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ College of Engineering and Technology

Category Archives: Aviation

Summer is here! I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I got all of my hard classes out of the way and next year is going to be a breeze.

Overall this semester wasn’t too difficult. I only had three finals and I have to admit they were challenging, but manageable. All I can think about now, though, is no finals, no midterms, no homework, and no more classes for 4 months. What am I going to do with all of this free time! Travel to every continent, see the world. Endless possibilities.

Actually, this summer I will be staying here in Athens flight instructing. I have to build those flight hours somehow! I am pretty excited, though, because I have 10 students. That’s like a full workload and I am going to enjoy every moment of it. I’m going to be out at the airport Monday through Saturday 8:30 am to 6:30 pm. It’s a lot of work, but this is what I signed up for and I’m really looking forward to it.

Another thing I’m really looking forward to this summer is I signed up to volunteer for OBAP’s (Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals) ACE Academy. The ACE Academy is a way for students from 14-18 to get a taste of aviation. During the time there, they learn leadership skills, the history of aviation, and even have a chance to fly an airplane for the first time. I love being part of people’s first experiences with airplanes. I love seeing how excited they get and it reminds me of my first time in a plane.

My Spring Break this year was split into two different trips. The first four days of my break was spent snowboarding in Breckenridge, Colorado and the last half of my Spring Break was spent in Dallas for a Women in Aviation Conference. Yes, I know, I’m not a woman but it is a great organization for anyone in the Aviation industry to be involved in!

Since Spring Break was so early this year, my buddies and I decided since it’s going to be cold everywhere, we might as well enjoy it. The mountains in Colorado are majestic and there are no words or pictures that will do them justice. Since the runs were so long and exhausting it was nice to sit down and look out and enjoy the scenery. I don’t always make the best decisions when on the mountain and I try to push my limits by traveling through the woods and going off a few jumps. After a few nasty wipe-outs and bumps and bruises, I was ready to head to Texas for my conference.

The conference had every major airline and company attending including Boeing, Airbus, Southwest, Delta, American Airlines, and many more. There were a little over 4,000 people who attended and about 1,000 were collegiate students and the rest were professional pilots or in some way involved in the industry. I was able to listen to many keynote speakers including Colleen Barrett who is the president of Southwest Airlines. It was a great networking experience and I was able to hand out my resume to a variety of companies. It was very rewarding, as I have already received emails to interview for the first officer position on a regional airline as soon as I meet the minimum flight hour requirements.

It’s about time for a break. I’m starting to daydream and procrastinate. This spring break came right on time! With all of this snow though it’s more like a second winter break than a spring break. I would love to go to some place warm…Cancun? I wish.

Last year around this time I went skiing for the first time. It was a fun time and I think I will go again and make it a tradition for spring break. My first time wasn’t too bad, I only fell a few times and didn’t lose my poles on the ski lift. I count that as a success. I’m planning on perfect north slopes where my friend works in the winter. He racks up points for working, then we all go as a group and get free lift tickets and ski all through the day. What’s better than free skiing?

One thing that got me pumped this past week was RJet day at the Aviation Department. Republic Airways came down for one of their college recruitment fairs. This is an opportunity to talk with the airline and get the inside scoop on things. It’s great networking and an opportunity to give them our resume.

Republic Airways gave out information and free bags and had a presentation over the history of the company and where they stand now. They backed up the talk about how the industry is hurting on pilots and how now is the perfect time to flight train. Republic Airways, just like a lot of other airlines, are now on a hiring spree and looking for pilots to fly their planes. The road to flying for the airlines is looking more near by the flight hour!

I’ve been planning out my senior year class schedule since freshman year. My plan was to take the harder classes before my senior year to make my last year here a breeze. One thing I didn’t quite plan out was that all of those harder classes were going to be compiled all to this year.

One of the classes I have been putting off till this semester is calculus. The thing about calculus is I haven’t taken anything math-related since high school. Going into this semester I was pretty nervous and for some reason the word “derivative” scared me. As it turns out, the class isn’t all that bad and the worry and stress I gave myself dreading over this was for nothing. One of the big things that is helping me though the class is the Student Connect software (the access code that comes with textbook that no one enjoys buying). It gives step-by-step instructions on how to do everything we learn in class and I would look over it the day before. This gave me a lot of confidence and I ended up scoring one of the highest on the first exam!

My favorite course by far this semester is the Multi-Engine Airplane certification course which is my last flight course I will take before graduation. The plane we use for this class is a Baron 55. Comparably, other flight schools usually train in a Piper Seminole that only puts out 180 hp on a side. The Barron 55 is a monster and it puts out 300 hp each engine for a total of 600 hp! This plane actually puts you back in your seat on takeoff and it is a blast. I regularly break 200 mph and like I always say, the faster the better! This is definitely the capstone class for me and I can’t wait to jump back in it for next time.

As an Aviation Flight major you go through many flight courses that help you attain different licenses and certificates. I am now in my final semester at Ohio University and taking my last flight course: Multi-Engine Flight. There are many major milestones throughout training as a pilot such as initial private pilots license, an instrument rating, or finally attaining your CFI (Certified Flight Instructor license). Multi-Engine Flight is the one flight course that I have been looking forward to completing since I began my flight courses.

During my time at Ohio University I’ve flown four different airplanes: Cessna 152, Cessna 172, Piper Warrior III, and a Piper Arrow. Of those four, the Piper Arrow was the fastest, most powerful, and most complex aircraft. It was 200 horsepower and would cruise around 130 mph. The Baron 55, which is the multi-engine plane, has 300 horsepower on each engine and cruises around 190 mph. It is a big jump in power and speed in any plane that I’ve ever flown. It also requires a lot more focus and attention than anything I’ve ever done. After an hour flight, I can feel more mentally and physically exhausted than any sports practice I’ve been through. This challenging course will help me get ready for the industry and the real world.

This week at Ohio University, some distinguished professors from the International Space University (ISU) visited to get their curriculum finalized for next summer. That’s when Ohio University will be hosting the ISU Space Studies Program.

I didn’t realize how big of a deal this was until I did a little research and saw that last year’s ISU was held in Montreal, Canada. Countries from around the world bid on this program and try and have it held in their country, state, or university and Ohio University won the 2015 bid. The program will be held on campus from June 8th to August 7th. Students from around the world apply to this program. Last year’s program attracted 122 participants representing 32 countries.

When I met some of the professors this week they were from all over the world including Germany, France, Canada, India and more. One of the members from the ISU team that I met was named John Connolly. John was a great individual with an even better background. He has 28 years of experience with NASA and he has been a member of ISU for 22 years leading the ISU’s Space Studies Program. John’s specialties include human and robotic space mission design, human spacecraft design, and space systems engineering.

I did not find out about the Space Studies Program being held at OU until this week and it has been in the works for two years now. I am so proud of my University and of the all the people who put in so much time and dedication into bringing such a big program to my school. This is great publicity for the University and I think its going to be a great experience for our school and faculty to work side by side with distinguished individuals from around the world.

Having a break from classes and studying is necessary to keep my sanity. Of course classes are important, but having those moments when you forget about that exam coming up keeps me going.

One of my favorite things to do anytime of the week is ultimate Frisbee. I started playing at Adams Hall at the end of last summer and have been going almost every week since. I love competition, and ultimate is a way for me to take any stress that I have and channel that toward scoring touchdowns! Almost every week is a good turn out and I meet someone new. The atmosphere is relaxed and it is a great way to spend the evening.

Ultimate is not the only thing out there to partake in. There are plenty of other activities and other sports to play, have fun, meet people, and feed the competitive side. Last fall I was on a sand volleyball team that I enjoyed a lot. When I was out there, college soaked in a little more. Getting out of class, then casually playing some volleyball on south beach–it was great. Sign ups are pretty often for the different sessions and only takes a few clicks by going to the intramural sports website and creating an account on imleauges.

It is starting to get cold outside and snow is starting to fall. Ultimate Frisbee season is dying down–Wrong! The coordinator of Adams Hall was able to set up a designated time in the new Walter Field House for us to continue to play throughout the winter. Last Sunday was my first time using the facility and it was pretty cool. We had the whole field to ourselves and played for a few hours. They also have a track on the perimeter of the field and I think I am going to start using the Field house more often. I can’t wait to play next Sunday night!